The Food Network will be celebrating the new year with some famous chefs and questionable dishes. TheWrap has your exclusive first look at the lineup for “Worst Cooks in America: Celebrity Edition: Heroes vs. Villains.”
The upcoming season, which will be the 28th installment of the reality cooking competition show, will premiere on Jan. 5, 2025, at 8 p.m. ET/PT with a two-hour premiere. It also marks the 8th celebrity iteration, and the first ever to not feature Chef Anne Burrell.
Now onto the main course: This upcoming season will feature 10 contestants across the worlds of reality TV, sports, music and more. Team Hero will include Skid Row singer Sebastian Bach; “Dancing With the Stars” pro Cheryl Burke; actor, dancer and “Big Brother” Season 16 contestant Frankie Grande; Olympic figure skater and “Stars on Mars” winner Adam Rippon; and “RuPaul’s Drag Race” winner Trinity the Tuck. As for Team Villain, that will include “The Challenge” and “House of Villains” icon Wes Bergmann; “Love Is Blind” and “Perfect Match” star Bartise Bowden; “The Bachelor” contestant Corinne Olympios; “Flavor of Love,” “House of Villains” and “I Love New York” fan-favorite Tiffany “New York” Pollard; and “Big Brother” and “Amazing Race” contestant Rachel Reilly.
Led by returning mentor Chef Jeff Mauro and newcomer Chef Antonia Lofaso, “Worst Cooks in America” seeks to transform this group of foodie failures into cooking masters. Eliminations will happen weekly, with the most-improved star left standing winning $25,000 for the charity of their choice as well as bragging rights for their team leader.
“This season’s celebrity recruits all have reputations that precede them – and their larger-than-life personalities are front and center in the kitchen,” Betsy Ayala, head of content and food for Warner Bros. Discovery, said in a Thursday statement. “Jeff and Antonia have their work cut out for them to mentor these stars, but the transformations are impressive and the laughs constant.”
This season’s premiere will ask contestants to create their go-to dinner party dish. Guest Carson Kressley (“Queer Eye for the Straight Guy”) will then give Chefs Mauro and Lofaso their own challenge to determine who will lead Team Hero and who will lead Team Villain. That will be followed by a main dish challenge, which will ask contestants to filet a whole fish and replicate a seafood dish.
“Worst Cooks in America” is produced by Objective Media Group America, which is an All3 Media America company.
